#Mattis nixes holiday tradition of seeing #troops in #war #zones

Pentagon boss Jim Mattis, who spent more than four decades in the Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, made a five-day trip through the Middle East in early December. He stopped in Kuwait and Pakistan — countries adjacent to Iraq and Afghanistan — but didn’t cross the borders to see troops at war in either country. Last week, he visited troops in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba , and at military bases in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, wishing them holiday cheer.